Page 38 of Curse the Flame

The jolt is just as strong this time, and I suck in a breath.

His eyes flash in the firelight. “Take your seat, Willow. The one next to mine. I’ll check with the servants to see where the rest of your meal is.”

Crap.

No. I can’t eat this stuff. If there’s supposed to be more, but they didn’t bring it out yet, maybe they haven’t finished cooking it. Good. I’ll just tell Aiden that I’m good with whatever’s under this cover, and when I don’t eat it, I won’t be wasting that much food.

“Oh, that’s okay. I’m not really hungry. I’m sure this will be more than enough for me. Unless you want it⁠—”

I lift the cover.

Together, we stare at it.

Even Persephone is suddenly wide awake, aware, and totally speechless.

Because the only thing that’s on the table?

Is a pomegranate.

CHAPTER 10

HADES

WILLOW

For one ridiculous second, all I can do is continue to stare at the piece of fruit.

It doesn’t take a Greek mythology aficionado to know what that means.

Okay. Maybe I could have explained away the palace. Cerberus, too, and the cold air that lingers despite the fire everywhere. Heck, I could have even told myself the man who pulled me away from a Roman soldier was only another victim of whatever magic dragged me through the mirror, and that’s probably true.

But there is no explaining away a pomegranate in the Underworld when I’m supposed to be Persephone unless I admit that he’s⁠—

He’s—

Oh, boy.

My fingers are clutching the lid to the dish. Slowly, I lower it, covering the pomegranate.

Aiden is standing behind his seat at the head of the table. Peeking at him out of the corner of my eye, I see that he has gone very still. Something in his expression changes; not guilt exactly, but recognition. As though he understands what the pomegranate means as much as I do.

He clears his throat. “Like I thought, this is not the sort of meal I ordered for dinner. I’m sorry, Willow. I don’t know who brought out the pomegranate, but make no mistake, it was not done so on purpose. Take your seat. I’ll have something else brought for you to eat for dinner immediately.”

Uh-oh.

“That’s okay—” I try again.

“I insist.”

Yeah, well, now that I know exactly who he is, there’s definitely no freaking way I’m going to eat food from the Underworld. I know the story of Persephone. Everyone does. The naive goddess was tricked into eating six pomegranate seeds and could only leave the Underworld for half the year because of it. I can’t let that happen. I need to go home. I’ll have to starve before I eat anything Aiden offers me, rude or not.

Only… is that what he’s doing? With this pomegranate? I mean, if he is Hades… is this his way of trying to get me to stay?

I have to find out. I have to know. And if that means I have to bite the bullet and just ask, that’s exactly what I do:

“Are you Hades?”

The words sound absurd coming out of my mouth, even after everything I’ve seen. Maybe especially after everything I’ve seen.